The Toronto Street Railway (TSR) was the operator of a horse-drawn streetcar system from 1861 to 1891 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its successor, the Toronto Railway Company, inherited the horsecar system and electrified it between 1892 and 1894.
History
Early years (1861–1873)
After the Williams Omnibus Bus Line had become heavily loaded in 1861, the city of Toronto issued a transit franchise (Resolution 14, By-law 353) for a horse-drawn street railway. The winner was Alexander Easton's Toronto Street Railway, which was required to build streetcar lines along Yonge, Queen and King Streets. Service was required to be 16 hours per day, 14 in winter with a headway of no more than 30 minutes at a speed not to exceed . The fare was 5 cents with no transfer privileges and no discounted fare for children.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Route !! data-sort-type=isoDate | Started !! data-sort-type=isoDate | Ended !! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
| Bathurst || data-sort-value="1889-09" | September 1889 || data-sort-value="1889-12-07" | December 7, 1889 || To "Seaton Village"
|-
| Bloor || data-sort-value="1891-05-29" | May 29, 1891 || Transferred to City||
|-
| Brockton || data-sort-value="1883-09-04" | September 4, 1883 || data-sort-value="1884-05" | May 1884 || From "Queen & Brockton"; to "Queen & Brockton"
|-
| Carlton & College || data-sort-value="1886-08-02" | August 2, 1886 ||Transferred to City||
|-
| Church || data-sort-value="1881-08-18" | August 18, 1881 ||Transferred to City||
|-
| Danforth || data-sort-value="1889-07-08" | July 8, 1889 ||Transferred to City||
|-
| Davenport || data-sort-value="1890-08-18" | August 18, 1890 ||Transferred to City|| From "Seaton Village"
|-
| Dovercourt via McCaul || data-sort-value="1888-09-24" | September 24, 1888 ||Transferred to City|| From "McCaul & College"
|-
| Front & McCaul || data-sort-value="1883-10-22" | October 22, 1883 || data-sort-value="1884-06-28" | June 28, 1884 || To "McCaul & College"
|-
| Front & Parliament || data-sort-value="1878-11-25" | November 25, 1878 || data-sort-value="1881-07-25" | July 25, 1881 || To "Parliament" and "Winchester"
|-
| High Park via Queen || data-sort-value="1887-04" | April 1887 ||Transferred to City|| From "Queen & Parkdale"
|-
| King || data-sort-value="1874-09-21" | September 21, 1874 ||Transferred to City|| Longest continuously operated route in Toronto
|-
| King via Strachan || data-sort-value="1879-09-02" | September 2, 1879 || data-sort-value="1890-09-19" | September 19, 1890 || During Toronto Industrial Exhibition only; to "King"
|-
| Kingston Rd. || data-sort-value="1875-06-09" | June 9, 1875 || data-sort-value="1887-04" | April 1887 || Kingston Road Tramway Co.; by this date; part to "Woodbine"
|-
| Lee || data-sort-value="1889-07-15" | July 15, 1889 ||Transferred to City||
|-
| McCaul & College || data-sort-value="1884-06-30" | June 30, 1884 || data-sort-value="1888-09-22" | September 22, 1888 || From "Front & McCaul"; to "Dovercourt via McCaul"
|-
| McCaul & College || data-sort-value="1889-07-15" | July 15, 1889 ||Transferred to City|| From "Dovercourt via McCaul"
|-
| Metropolitan || data-sort-value="1885-01-26" | January 26, 1885 ||Transferred to City|| Metropolitan Street Railway
|-
| Parliament || data-sort-value="1881-07-26" | July 26, 1881 ||Transferred to City|| to City from "Front & Parliament"
|-
| Queen || data-sort-value="1861-02-02" | February 2, 1861 || data-sort-value="1881-12-07" | December 7, 1881 || to "Queen & Brockton"
|-
| Queen || data-sort-value="1883-09-04" | September 4, 1883 || data-sort-value="1884-05" | May 1884 || From "Queen & Brockton"; to "Queen & Brockton"
|-
| Queen & Brockton || data-sort-value="1881-12-08" | December 8, 1881 || data-sort-value="1883-09-03" | September 3, 1883 || From "Queen"; to "Queen & Brockton"
|-
| Queen & Brockton || data-sort-value="1884-05" | May 1884 ||Transferred to City|| From "Brockton" and "Queen"
|-
| Queen & Parkdale || data-sort-value="1879-09-02" | September 2, 1879 || data-sort-value="1887-04" | April 1887 || Ended by Q2 1887; to "High Park via Queen"
|-
| Queen East || data-sort-value="1885-05-11" | May 11, 1885 ||Transferred to City|| From "Sherbourne"
|-
| Seaton Village || data-sort-value="1885-07-27" | July 27, 1885 ||Transferred to City|| From "Spadina & Bathurst"
|-
| Sherbourne || data-sort-value="1874-12-01" | December 1, 1874 ||Transferred to City|| May have begun a day or two earlier
|-
| Spadina || data-sort-value="1879-06" | June 1879 ||Transferred to City||
|-
| Spadina & Bathurst || data-sort-value="1884-06-30" | June 30, 1884 || data-sort-value="1885-07-25" | July 25, 1885 || From "Spadina"; to "Seaton Village"
|-
| Toronto Industrial Exhibition || data-sort-value="1883-09-13" | September 13, 1883 || data-sort-value="1890-09-19" | September 19, 1890 || First electric route; operated by steam during the 1891 season
|-
| Winchester || data-sort-value="1881-07-26" | July 26, 1881 ||Transferred to City|| From "Front & Parliament"
|-
| Woodbine || data-sort-value="1887-05-21" | May 21, 1887 ||Transferred to City|| From "Kingston Rd."
|-
| Yonge || data-sort-value="1861-11-09" | November 9, 1861 || Transferred to City || First rail transit route in Toronto
|-
|}
Roster
In the first year, the TSR had only 11 horsecars on the roster. Before the end of the franchise, the TSR had 262 cars, 100 omnibuses, 100 sleighs and 1,356 horses.